From Mother’s Ruin to Modern Tipple: An Investigation into the Impact of Personal Identity and Consumer Motivation to Attend Gin Festivals.

Abstract

This research seeks to investigate the impact of personal identity on consumers’ motivation to attend gin festivals. This study aims to make an original contribution to the growing area of research into motivations and events by specifically exploring gin festivals. Gin has become a considerable phenomenon around the world by evolving to offer a wide variety of combinations and has formed a niche market of its own. Furthermore, event audiences have become diverse and therefore the motivations to attend events are multidimensional and complex to measure. There are several important areas that this study focuses on, mainly the effect of personal identity, food and beverage and the influence of social media on the decision-making process of the consumer, understanding event audiences and finally, the motivation of the consumer in relation to a gin event specifically.

The study draws on the current literature concerning events on a broad scale in order to later on determine if new insights are discovered or if there are overlapping relationships from previous research. To date, there are only a limited number of studies into the combined phenomena of personal identity and motivation for attending specific events and individually play a critical role in the marketing and success of an event. There is increasing attention being paid to the motivations and satisfaction of special events, which constitute an emerging market. Furthermore, some research on motivation in general has become outdated.

The aim of the study is to identify common or new motivational factors, which contribute to the consumers’ decision-making process and to critically evaluate the impact of personal identity and other influential factors upon attendees’ motivation to attend gin festivals.

The findings of the research indicate that personal identity has an influence on consumer motivation to attend events to some extent; however, other factors related to identity have a definite impact. Common motivational factors are identified and emerging themes are discovered in relation to gin festivals exclusively.